Tuesday, April 27, 2010

BlogSource: Eternal Lizdom

Last week, I wrote a post about  Things I'd Like To Have. First thing on the very short list was to eat a meal at Scotty's Lakehouse. 

After a fantastic afternoon at the Indiana Tourism Media Marketplace and then coming home to an empty (and, therefore, relaxing) house... and a husband that came home a smidge early... and a sunny evening... we decided it was the perfect evening to check out Scotty's Lakehouse.

It. was. gooooood.

It's a dark restaurant- that would be my only complaint. Made it very hard to take pics to share. But there are great pics on the website.

The thing that attracted me to Scotty's Lakehouse? This statement from their website (and this note from Scotty on the website):

We source as many products as possible locally, from Indiana farms and businesses. Our food waste is composted and all paper, glassware, and plastic is recycled.

We sat at a large booth. The table was covered with brown paper that also had the menu pritned on it. There were 2 TV's on the wall of our booth- both tuned in (no sound) to ESPN type stations. There were fresh flowers on the table. The kids were handed Crayolas.

We ordered our drinks and I was so geekily excited to have our drinks (not the kid drinks, though) served in Ball glass jars! A very cool touch that is a great demonstration of the commitment to buying local.

We ordered the kids' food and chips and salsa for us. So good! Baked blue corn chips. The salsa was chopped tomato, onion, and fresh jalapeno (not the dark green jarred kind- these were the fresh, bright beautiful green kind). So tasty and zingy!

Our waitress was very informed about the menu and all the different burgers and sides offered. Jeff decided on the bison burger and I had a turkey burger with a peanut sauce and fresh cabbage. Jeff got house fries and I opted for the house salad. It was nearly impossible to pass up the mac n cheese options... Click on the link above and read the "burgers bff" page. Are you drooling now? But the house salad was delish- hard boiled egg, goat cheese, greens, tomatoes. And Scotty's Lakehouse is all fresh, mostly local, and all organic. They also make all of their salad dressings- I had the ranch and it was very good.

Teagan went with a standard kid dish- chicken tenders and a fruit cup (oranges, apples, grapes). Zach had the monkey tail- it's a wheat tortilla with peanut butter, apples, bananas, and raisins all rolled up and a side of fresh fruit. I asked them to deconstruct the wrap so that Zach would have that fruit separate from the wrap. He was adorable as he told the waitress, many times, that he wanted "Nananas!!! I like Nanas!!!"

If I ever had a chance to bend Scotty's ear... I'd love to suggest a naked chicken tender. I really hate those heavily breaded pieces of chicken.

There is a kids' play area, too. The bottom half of the wall in that space is a giant chalk board! Then there are bins of toys and a little table to play on. There are also a couple of video games (including Ms. Pac Man). The service and food delivery was so fast that the kids never had a chance to play in the play area while waiting for food or anything- so we checked it out after we ate.

The place was a definite hit- Teagan has already decided what she wants to try next time we go (the 1/2 burger- with beef raised in Indiana) and Zach cried when it was time to leave. Jeff enjoyed his meal and thinks it would be a great to go back for a family dinner or on a date night!

I'd heard some complaints from folks who went to this little spot prior to the big grand opening last week... but most seemed to recognize it was a learning curve, growing pains kind of thing. I sincerely hope that anyone who tried it before will give Scotty's a second chance... and that anyone who hasn't been will make the effort to go. Very worth it, very delicious, and very much the kind of business I want to support!

Liz